The main reason for the unlocked SIM card slot appears to be FCC network access requirements for Block C, the 700 MHz spectrum that Verizon uses for its LTE network. According to the FCC's CFR Title 47 Part 27.16 paragraph (e):
(e) Handset locking prohibited. No licensee may disable features on handsets it provides to customers, to the extent such features are compliant with the licensee's standards pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section, nor configure handsets it provides to prohibit use of such handsets on other providers' networks.

Basically says that all their 4g phones have to be unlocked.

It does in fact work, I picked up a lumia 822 and popped my T-mobile sim inside and it works.

I'll answer your question as soon as I get mine answered since I did ask first.

So again, what are 5 things stock Android can do that skinned Android can't?

If stock Android is so much better you shouldn't have a problem answering this because it should be a lot of things to come back with instead of just one or 2.

If you can't, then that reaffirms why stock has to catch up with skinned

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

Your question isn't really valid since the skin lays on top of Android; it doesn't replace Android. Going back to my chicken example-I'm not going to argue that skinless chicken gives you more than chicken with skin. However, look at what you get with skin. You get good flavor and may feel full faster. You also get extra calories, extra fat and extra grease along with it. The long-term effects of the bad outweigh the short-term effects of the good in this situation.

Likewise with skins on Android phones, you get good looks and some convenience options. But you also get more background programs using your RAM that prevents the apps that you are really using from staying active in the background. Sense is far worse with this than Touchwiz, but I can come back to more apps where I left off with my Nexus 4 than I can with my Galaxy Note II. More of my apps have to restart when I come back to them on the Galaxy Note II because Touchwiz is using up RAM that would have otherwise been available to the app. My HTC One X can barely keep two apps running in the background due to all of the Sense processes.

The resource hogging skins also deplete the battery faster. If I am syncing the same accounts on a Nexus 4 and an Samsung Galaxy S III, the Nexus 4's battery will last much longer than the Galaxy S III's battery will. I chose those two phones because they both have a 2,100mAH battery and I have both of them to compare.

--for somebody happy with the AT&T network (and maybe the same is true for Verizon), getting a phone like the Google Edition S4 is luxury: you don't get the phone subsidized yet end up paying the same every month for service. Hence you loose $450 over the two years you typically have a phone, and loose more if you prefer to upgrade sooner.

--for somebody who's not particularly keen on AT&T service, and happy with T-Mobile, getting a Google edition phone is viable, since you end up paying only for the network, not indirectly for the phone.

What surprises me is that as long as SMS is not important to someone, AT&T's prices are actually pretty reasonable. I pay $70/month and ~$5 extra for the text messaging for my grandfathered in unlimited 4G LTE data plan. I just wish they would switch to even lower rates once a phone is paid off, or one brings a phone like the GE 4S to them. It would only be fair. But they keep the monthly rates exactly the same.

My point wasn't that they are $18.75 MORE than AT&T or any other carrier's. I was just saying that they would be $18.75 more for the first 2 years on any T-Mobile plan you have. In other words, if a T-Mobile plan was $10 per month, I was just saying that for the first 2 years, it would be $28.75 per month until the subsidized phone is paid for...after which the plan would go back down to $10 per month.

My point wasn't that they are $18.75 MORE than AT&T or any other carrier's. I was just saying that they would be $18.75 more for the first 2 years on any T-Mobile plan you have. In other words, if a T-Mobile plan was $10 per month, I was just saying that for the first 2 years, it would be $28.75 per month until the subsidized phone is paid for...after which the plan would go back down to $10 per month.

Right, so since I like getting a new phone every <2 years this seems to me to argue for AT&T, where the subsidization is absorbed by the $70/month plan.

My only gripe with them is how much I pay for voice that I don't use. Would be great to just pay the $30/month I currently pay for unlimited 4G LTE, and have a small voice and SMS plan (say 100 mins + 100 messages for $10).

Right, so since I like getting a new phone every <2 years this seems to me to argue for AT&T, where the subsidization is absorbed by the $70/month plan.

My only gripe with them is how much I pay for voice that I don't use. Would be great to just pay the $30/month I currently pay for unlimited 4G LTE, and have a small voice and SMS plan (say 100 mins + 100 messages for $10).

You seem to be ignoring the situation where you can use the unlocked GS4 on a prepaid plan. I'm putting a Net10 SIM in my GPe phone and it's only going to cost me $50 a month for unlimited voice/texting/data*. Although the data isn't REALLY unlimited. It's still a great deal. I can't do that on AT&T proper, yet this Net10 SIM lets me use the same AT&T towers for a much cheaper price - eventually this cheaper price quickly begins to cover the cost of the unsubsidized price of the phone. Furthermore, since I'm not on a contract if I want to try out Tmobile for a month I can pop in one of their SIMs and checkout their LTE network and only have to pay $70 for the privilege. Isn't that something like $20 cheaper than if I had a subsidized phone through them? Then I can pop right back in my Net10 SIM at the end of the month and keep trucking on with my cheaper $50 a month service if I like. Traveling and not getting a good signal? Try a different SIM.

And then I'm going to Spain for a month at the end of the summer. Good thing I'm not in a contract so I don't have to worry about paying AT&T to "park" my service, or god forbid pay for an entire month ($90?) for a service I'm not even using. And since my phone is unlocked I'll just buy a prepaid SIM in Europe and keep on trucking. Since I wasn't in a contract back home I just don't pay for that month.

Not everything is as cut and dry as you're trying to make it out to be.

Assuming I'd get the GE with a T-Mobile $30 plan (the only way I could save money compared to getting the subsidized phone with my current AT&T plan), does anybody know what the data speeds with that plan are?

Assuming I'd get the GE with a T-Mobile $30 plan (the only way I could save money compared to getting the subsidized phone with my current AT&T plan), does anybody know what the data speeds with that plan are?

That's going to depend on your location. You don't get lower speeds because of this particular plan, if that is what you are asking.

That's going to depend on your location. You don't get lower speeds because of this particular plan, if that is what you are asking.

Thanks, that's very helpful. I've decided that I will try the GE edition with the $30 T-mobile plan for a few weeks. If I find significantly slower speeds and/or more coverage gaps than AT&T I'll return the GE phone and get the regular S4 with AT&T instead. Too bad AT&T doesn't have a similar plan!

You can ask if there are other people on this forum on T-Mobile in your area to see what data speeds are like. It really does get down to your specific area, though. I am in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC. My AT&T speeds are 25-35Mbps while my T-Mobile speeds top out at 10Mbps. However, people 15 miles away from me in two different directions report T-Mobile speeds of 15-22Mbps.

I think the only advantage would be getting the updates before anyone else, as well as slightly faster response because it's pure stock OS without any overhead.

Is that a guarantee? The Nexus *is* Google's phone. I have a Gnex and while I'm getting updates before most, Sprint still hasn't updated us to 4.2.2. I finally rooted to fix the 4.2.1 issues. I wonder if the Nexus will still be first, followed by the Google Editions?

Sent from the Superuser account on my newly flashed Sprint Galaxy Nexus with XenonHD

Here's an interesting twist to my question that I just found out from AT&T. I am essentially upgrade-eligible every year because I can alternate between using the upgrade eligibility of myself and my partner on a family contract. This is especially astonishing because my partner has a regular flip phone and no data plan, hence only pays about $15/month in total fees. Now I've had two AT&T representatives confirm to me that I can use my partner's upgrade eligibility *without* having to transition into paying two data plans.

So I can upgrade every year with AT&T for for only the up-front fee a phone costs. This makes staying with AT&T and getting the subsidized version of the S4 a no-brainer for me -- given that I will only pay $1k during the year I expect to have the new phone (hardware and service included) I would have to get a data&voice plan for $30/month from T-Mobile to make the purchase of a Google Edition phone economically feasible. Now the only plan T-mobile has for that is the one with 100 minutes of voice, which is insufficient for me. Getting the $70/month unlimited plan however would make this move roughly $500/year more expensive than staying with AT&T.

Here's an interesting twist to my question that I just found out from AT&T. I am essentially upgrade-eligible every year because I can alternate between using the upgrade eligibility of myself and my partner on a family contract. This is especially astonishing because my partner has a regular flip phone and no data plan, hence only pays about $15/month in total fees. Now I've had two AT&T representatives confirm to me that I can use my partner's upgrade eligibility *without* having to transition into paying two data plans.

So I can upgrade every year with AT&T for for only the up-front fee a phone costs. This makes staying with AT&T and getting the subsidized version of the S4 a no-brainer for me -- given that I will only pay $1k during the year I expect to have the new phone (hardware and service included) I would have to get a data&voice plan for $30/month from T-Mobile to make the purchase of a Google Edition phone economically feasible. Now the only plan T-mobile has for that is the one with 100 minutes of voice, which is insufficient for me. Getting the $70/month unlimited plan however would make this move roughly $500/year more expensive than staying with AT&T.

How many minutes do you use per month? And your current plan is $70 per month, right?

How many minutes do you use per month? And your current plan is $70 per month, right?

I use about 550 minutes together with my partner. I pay $50 for the shared 550 minutes voice plan with my partner plus $30 for data. So I use approximately half of those minutes we use together, so depending on how one spins it my part of the plan costs about $55 a month.

I use about 550 minutes together with my partner. I pay $50 for the shared 550 minutes voice plan with my partner plus $30 for data. So I use approximately half of those minutes we use together, so depending on how one spins it my part of the plan costs about $55 a month.

Solavei (T-Mobile MVNO) has a $50 plan with unlimited minutes and texts, and unlimited data with 4GB 4G.

You seem to be ignoring the situation where you can use the unlocked GS4 on a prepaid plan. I'm putting a Net10 SIM in my GPe phone and it's only going to cost me $50 a month for unlimited voice/texting/data*. Although the data isn't REALLY unlimited. It's still a great deal. I can't do that on AT&T proper, yet this Net10 SIM lets me use the same AT&T towers for a much cheaper price - eventually this cheaper price quickly begins to cover the cost of the unsubsidized price of the phone. Furthermore, since I'm not on a contract if I want to try out Tmobile for a month I can pop in one of their SIMs and checkout their LTE network and only have to pay $70 for the privilege. Isn't that something like $20 cheaper than if I had a subsidized phone through them? Then I can pop right back in my Net10 SIM at the end of the month and keep trucking on with my cheaper $50 a month service if I like. Traveling and not getting a good signal? Try a different SIM.

And then I'm going to Spain for a month at the end of the summer. Good thing I'm not in a contract so I don't have to worry about paying AT&T to "park" my service, or god forbid pay for an entire month ($90?) for a service I'm not even using. And since my phone is unlocked I'll just buy a prepaid SIM in Europe and keep on trucking. Since I wasn't in a contract back home I just don't pay for that month.

Not everything is as cut and dry as you're trying to make it out to be.

but how are you ignoring what he is saying?

I'll give you an example. I get an discount with ATT and I pay $75 a month for unlimited text, talk, and web. I am perfectly happy with ATT and as long as they allow me to upgrade and keep unlimited data I will stay with them. If I buy an s4 on contract with them I pay $200 and my bill will stay the exact same whether I am in or out of contract. If I buy the s4 GE I will still use it on ATT and my bill would remain the same $75 a month. I would lose $450 buying the GE phones, plain and simple. If I did not get a discount with ATT I would be paying $100 a month and in that case would probably go to T-mobile with the GE s4. Most people who have a plan with ATT, Sprint, and Verizon and plan on staying with them, would only lose money buying a GE phone.

So to answer the OP. The people who should buy the GE phones are people who would be buying a phone and cannot upgrade on ATT, Sprint, and Verizon but plan on staying with them. Also, people who want to go with a prepaid provide or t-mobile would have a interest b.c the amount they would save (assuming you do not get a discount at the other 3 carriers).

Lastly, people who have money to spend and do not want to take the time (even if it takes 15 minutes) to root their phone. I know a lot of people that would pay $450 extra just to not have to root and get timely updates. It may sound weird to some, but it is the truth. I slightly fall into that category and could easily see myself spending extra money b.c to me it is just $450. That is reality....some people that is a lot of money and others that is a not.

I don't think 450$ is an astounding am mount to have more memory, and not being held down for xyz amount of time.
However, I see myself for 2 years w att because NY area is boasting LTE speeds and I have 10gig shared data...I'm happy enough lol 4 phones 270$ oh well